"It has been four years since the Stanford Financial Group was placed in receivership and its victims
learned their savings were gone," said Congressman Bill Cassidy. "Yet there are still victims who have
not been given financial restitution. These are working men and women who cannot wait for the conclusion
of a long, drawn-out legal process. This bill allows them to quickly recoup some of their losses. This
is a common-sense plan which should be enacted."

"Every victim of the despicable Ponzi scheme orchestrated by the Stanford Financial Group of course has
the right to pursue any and all litigation in this case," said Congressman Ted Deutch. "Yet those who
cannot afford to continue this lengthy legal battle or simply want to move on with their lives deserve
the opportunity to recoup some of their losses. This is a commonsense, bipartisan bill and I look forward
to working with Congressman Cassidy to advance it in the 113th Congress."

This legislation creates an avenue for SIPC to offer individual Stanford victims a one-time payment of
up to $500,000.00, to at least partially recoup them of their losses. Stanford victims who accept the
offer would consequently exclude themselves from any further claims against the SIPC fund. Stanford
victims who wish to continue their lawsuits against SIPC can bypass this option and continue those suits.
In summary, this legislation allows both parties to settle on existing claims for a negotiated amount,
as both SIPC and countless victims reportedly hoped to do as early as 2011.

Additionally, since all settlements for Stanford victims would come from the SIPC fund, no taxpayer money
will be required to fund this legislation and no increase to the national debt will occur if enacted.

It has been more than four years since the District Court for
the Northern District of Texas appointed Ralph Janvey
as Receiver for the Stanford Entities-shutting down what the
SEC alleged to be a $7 billion Ponzi scheme. In that
time, R. Allen Stanford and some of his associates have been
tried and convicted in criminal courts, while hundreds
of civil lawsuits continue to creep forward. Most of the
civil suits are consolidated for pretrial purposes into MDL
2099, in the Northern District of Texas. This litigation
alert will briefly address the criminal convictions, followed
by an update on the SLUSA appeal that KRCL wrote about in
April.[1] Lastly, this alert will report on some of the new
complaints filed by the Receiver and the Official Stanford
Investors Committee in February.

The Criminal Trials

On June 14, 2012, Judge Hittner of the Southern District of
Texas sentenced R. Allen Stanford to 110 years in federal
prison for various counts of fraud, conspiracy, and
obstruction. The court also imposed a $5.9 billion judgment against
Stanford individually. Stanford has appealed the conviction
to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Stanford's conviction and judgment followed a six-week trial
at which his former chief financial officer, James Davis,
testified against Stanford as part of a plea agreement. The
court sentenced James Davis to five years in prison and
imposed a $1 billion money judgment.

Laura Pendergest-Holt, Stanford's former chief investment
officer, plead guilty to obstruction and received a sentence
of 36 months in prison and no monetary judgment.

On February 14, 2013, the court sentenced Gilbert Lopez, Stanford's former chief accounting officer, and Mark Kuhrt,
the former controller, to 20 years in prison. These defendants have signaled their intentions to appeal.

The Lopez and Kuhrt sentences bring an end to the criminal
trial proceedings, other than those related to Leroy King,
an Antiguan banking regulator whom prosecutors are attempting
to extradite to the United States for trial.

The SLUSA Appeal

As we have previously written, the Securities Litigation
Uniform Standards Act of 1998 ("SLUSA") prohibits state-based
securities class actions if the claims allege "a
misrepresentation or omission of a material fact in connection with
the purchase of a covered security." Judge Godbey in the
Northern District of Texas previously ruled that the
plaintiffs' claims, which related to CDs issued by Stanford
International Bank, were sufficiently related to "covered
securities" to warrant SLUSA preemption.

On appeal, the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court, holding that SLUSA preemption does not apply and breathing
life back into the plaintiffs' claims.

Last month, the United States Supreme Court granted
certiorari to review the SLUSA issue.[2] The Supreme Court granted
certiorari in spite of opposition from the Solicitor General,
who wrote in an amicus brief that the facts presented
are too peculiar to provide any assistance to lower courts
that may later face SLUSA preemption issues.

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the October 2013
Term. If the high court reverses the Fifth Circuit, the
plaintiffs' claims that are based on state law securities
violations will be dismissed, significantly diminishing the
plaintiffs' ability to recover against financial services
defendants.

The February 15 Lawsuits

The Official Stanford Investors Committee is a court-appointed group consisting of seven members that purportedly
represent a "cross-section of the Stanford victims' community." The Receiver assigned certain of its claims to the
Committee, which has brought suits in its own name and has also intervened in some lawsuits.

Despite the uncertainty created by the pending SLUSA appeal, the Committee has recently increased its litigation
activity. On February 15, 2013, the Committee filed three complaints with the MDL Court-a complaint in intervention
and two original complaints.

The Committee filed the complaint in intervention in Rotstain
v. Trustmark National Bank, HSBC Bank PLC, The
Toronto-Dominion Bank, and Bank of Houston, No. 3:09-cv-2384.
Rotstain is a purported class action brought by victims
of Stanford's purported Ponzi scheme. The Receiver and the
Committee had previously intervened, but had not alleged
claims directly against the defendant banks until this
filing. The Committee alleges various claims related to
fraudulent transfers, conversion, and conspiracy. The
Committee also seeks punitive damages for the banks' alleged
participation or abetting of Stanford's fraudulent scheme.

On the same day, the Committee filed an original complaint
styled The Official Stanford Investors Committee v. Bank of
Antigua, et al., No. 3:13-cv-0762. In this action, the
Committee seeks recovery from eight foreign banks for claims
similar to those alleged in the Rotstain matter. The
Committee alleges that the Antiguan government and its monetary
regulator, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, were complicit
in and integral to Stanford's fraud. According to the
complaint, the Antiguan government's seizure of the Bank of
Antigua (a Stanford-controlled entity) resulted in the
dissemination of Stanford assets to various Caribbean-based
banks. The Committee seeks to recover these assets, alleged
to be in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, under
theories of fraudulent transfer and conversion.

In addition, the Committee filed suit directly against the
nation of Antigua and Barbuda, in a case styled The Official
Stanford Investors Committee v. Antigua and Barbuda, No.
3:13-cv-0760. In this Complaint, the Committee levies its most
serious accusations against the Antiguan government, alleging
that the country "became a 'blood brother' to Stanford"
and that key government officials "were literally Stanford's
partners in crime." By this action, the Committee seeks to
recover almost one hundred million dollars in unpaid loans
made by Stanford to the government of Antigua and Barbuda.

The Receiver also filed a new lawsuit on February 15, 2013.
In Janvey v. Pablo M. Alvarado, et al., No. 3:13-cv-0775,
the Receiver seeks to recover from 23 former directors and
officers of various Stanford entities for breach of fiduciary
duty. The suit essentially alleges that the directors and
officers either knew of the fraud or facilitated the fraud by
ignoring numerous "red flags." Laura Pendergest-Holt, Mark
Kuhrt, and Gilberto Lopez are among the defendants.

The Official Stanford Investors Committee seeks repayment of
at least $90 million in documented loans Stanford made to the
dual-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda and accuses its
elected officials of having been "Stanford's partners in crime." The
nation's leaders shielded Stanford's scheme and traded choice
real estate for as much as $230 million in loans that haven't been
repaid, according to the lawsuit.

"Antigua knowingly provided necessary assistance to
Stanford's $7 billion Ponzi scheme and, in exchange, received millions
of
dollars in loans whose repayment terms Stanford did not
enforce," the committee said in a complaint filed in Dallas federal
court on Feb. 15. "For well over a decade, Antigua was a
prime participant in, and beneficiary of, the Stanford Ponzi scheme,
and actively protected and shielded Stanford's criminal
enterprise from real regulatory scrutiny."

Stanford, 62, was convicted in March of masterminding a Ponzi
scheme that defrauded investors through the sale of bogus
certificates of deposit at his Antigua-based Stanford
International Bank Ltd. He is serving a 110-year sentence in a Florida
federal prison as he appeals his verdict and sentence.

Falsified Audits
Evidence at Stanford's trial showed he bribed Antiguan
banking regulator Leroy King to falsify audits certifying the bank's
investment returns and mislead U.S. securities regulators
investigating the former Texas billionaire's operations. Stanford was
also allowed to underwrite and participate in banking reform
legislation that Antigua claimed had cleaned up its corrupt
offshore banking industry, according to trial evidence.
Antigua has so far failed to extradite King to face criminal charges
in the U.S.

The investors on Feb. 15 separately sued the Eastern
Caribbean Central Bank, which nationalized Stanford's other island
financial
institution, the Bank of Antigua, after the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission seized Stanford's enterprise on suspicion of
fraud in February 2009.

The ECCB in turn parceled out ownership in the bank to the
government of Antigua and to other Caribbean banks in what the
investors called "a second act of brazen thievery." The head
of ECCB's monetary council at the time was Antiguan Minister of
Finance Errol Cort, who was both King's supervisor and one of
Stanford's personal attorneys, according to court papers.

Rightful Owners
"The considerable value of the Bank of Antigua, believed to
be in the tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, should be
distributed as compensation to its rightful owners,
Stanford's victims and creditors," the committee said in court papers.

Recent comments by Antiguan elected officials indicate the
country intends to repay the bank instead of the defrauded investors,
Peter D. Morgenstern, a lawyer for the investors' committee,
wrote, meaning that "in essence, Antigua intends to use CD investors'
money to pay itself."

Tom Bayko, Antigua's attorney, didn't immediately respond to
voice or e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. In an
earlier suit, Bayko said Antigua was protected from such
litigation by foreign sovereign immunity.

Officials at the ECCB didn't immediately return telephone or e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Ralph Janvey, Stanford's court-appointed receiver, filed
another lawsuit on Feb. 15 claiming breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit
by 23 former directors and officers of Stanford's operations,
including three executives convicted of furthering the fraud scheme.
The suit seeks return of all compensation from these
individuals, some of whom have been previously sued by the receiver on
similar claims.

"Many directors and officers simply looked the other way,
while others actively assisted Stanford in defrauding thousands of
people out of billions of dollars," Kevin Sadler, Janvey's
lead lawyer, said in the filing in Dallas federal court. They "put
their continued employment and substantial compensation ahead
of the best interests of the entities they were hired to serve,"
he said.

The cases are The Official Stanford Investors Committee v.
Antigua and Barbuda, 3:13-cv-0760; The Official Stanford Investors
Committee v. Bank of Antigua, 3:13-cv-0762; Janvey v.
Alvarado, 3:13-cv-0775. All are in U.S. District Court, Northern
District
of Texas (Dallas).

The main criminal case is U.S. v. Stanford, 09-cr-342, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston).

Donnerstag, 14. Februar 2013

Two former Stanford Financial Group executives were each sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding convicted
financier Robert Allen Stanford in perpetuating a massive Ponzi scheme, the Department of Justice said.

Gilbert T. Lopez Jr., former chief accounting officer of Stanford Financial Group Co., and Mark J. Kuhrt, former
global controller of Stanford Financial Group Global Management, were convicted by a Houston federal jury in
November of last year.

The men, both from Houston, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and nine counts of
wire fraud, the DOJ said.

Judge David Hittner of the Southern District of Texas, who presided over the trial, sentenced Mr. Lopez and Mr.
Kuhrt to serve three years of supervised release and ordered Mr. Lopez to pay a $25,000 fine, along with the
prison terms. He also found that both men committed perjury at trial.

Evidence presented at the trial showed that Mr. Lopez and Mr. Kuhrt were aware of and tracked Stanford's misuse
of Stanford International Bank's assets, kept the misuse hidden from the public and from almost all of Stanford's
other employees, and worked behind the scenes to prevent the misuse from being discovered, the DOJ said.

Jack Zimmermann, lead counsel for Mr. Lopez, told Dow Jones Newswires that he is "very disappointed." The sentence
was expected to be closer to that of James Davis, former finance chief of Stanford Financial who last month was
given five years in jail for his role in the scheme. Mr. Zimmermann described Mr. Davis as the architect of the
fraud. He plans to appeal the conviction.

Lawyers for Mr. Kuhrt weren't immediately available for comment.

Former Texas businessman Mr. Stanford is serving a 110-year sentence for stealing billions of dollars in investors'
money and investing much of it in unprofitable private businesses he controlled. Laura Pendergest-Holt, Stanford's
former chief investment officer, is serving a three-year sentence.

Donnerstag, 7. Februar 2013

The Receiver hereby submits for the Court's consideration the
following information regarding the status of the
Receivership, asset collection efforts, and other ongoing
activities. Unless otherwise stated herein, the information
in this report is current as of January 31, 2013. The
Receiver will supplement this report as circumstances develop
or if the information herein materially changes.

I. CASH INFLOWS &MAJOR RECEIVERSHIP ASSETS
The total amount of cash collected by the Receiver -
including, but not limited to, remaining operating income streams,
asset liquidation, and recovery of assets and funds from
third parties - was approximately $230.2 million as of January
31, 2013. The total of all cash on hand was $111 million,
which is net of the cash outflows discussed in more detail
below in Section II of this report. Of this amount, $8
million was restricted and $103 million was unrestricted.

Cash Balances & Trailing Revenue: The cash
balances recovered by the Receiver shortly
following his appointment on February 17, 2009 totaled
approximately $63.1 million. In addition, the Receivership has
collected roughly $5.3 million in cash associated with income
earned prior to the inception of the Receivership.

Private Equity: The Receiver has recovered
approximately $37.5 million in net cash proceeds
from the liquidation of private equity investments and
expects to receive approximately $300,000 more from closed or
pending private equity liquidations. In addition, the
Receiver's financial advisor is continuing to market the remaining
investments in Stanford's private equity portfolio, which has
an estimated value of up to $6.7 million.

Real Estate: The Receiver has recovered approximately
$18.7 million in net cash proceeds from
the liquidation of real estate, including the recent Holly
Springs sale [see Doc.1695]. Although the Receiver's real estate
brokers are continuing to market other properties in
Stanford's real estate portfolio, the Receiver is unable to estimate
the potential recovery from the liquidation of those
properties at this time.

Watercraft and Airplanes: The Receiver has recovered
approximately $8.0 million from the
disposition of airplanes owned or leased by Stanford and from
the sales of the Sea Eagle yacht, the Little Eagle yacht, and
the Robust Eagle tugboat.

Latin American Assets: The Receiver has been able to
liquidate assets in Panama, Ecuador, and
Peru, resulting in a recovery of approximately $12.9 million.
Moreover, the Receiver is pursuing the recovery of up to $10.2
million in additional Latin American assets.

Miscellaneous Asset Sales: The Receiver has recovered approximately $2.2 million from the sale
of miscellaneous assets - including, but not limited to, furniture, coins, vehicles, and assorted equipment.

Litigation: The Receiver has fraudulent-transfer,
unjust-enrichment, and other claims pending
against numerous defendants, through which the Receiver seeks
the recovery of approximately $700 million. The Receiver has
identified at least an additional $1.1 million in
international litigation claims. Asset recovery litigation is difficult,
protracted, and expensive.

Nevertheless, such claims are the single largest potential
source of funds which may be recovered for the benefit of Stanford's
victims. Although the Receiver has thus far received
approximately $15.5 million from settlements and other litigation
efforts
(including over $2.2 million received from the political
committee defendants in Case No. 3:10-CV-0346-N) and has secured an
injunction to hold another approximately $25 million, the
amount that the Receiver ultimately is able to collect from defendants
is uncertain and may be less than the amounts claimed. The
Receiver will continue to work towards appropriate and reasonable
settlements, where possible, in order to maximize the net
recovery to the Receivership Estate. A detailed report regarding the
status of the Receiver's many litigation claims is found in
the Third Joint Report of the Receiver, the Examiner and the Investors
Committee Concerning Pending Litigation (For the Quarter
Ending September 30, 2012) [see Doc. 1716], and related litigation
issues
are discussed in the Report of the Examiner and Receiver
Addressing Matters Assigned to Magistrate Judge Frost [see Doc. 1720].

Return of Political Contributions: The Receiver has
identified approximately $1.9 million in
political contributions made by Allen Stanford and related
entities. The Receiver has requested the return of these contributions
from over 90 politicians, political action committees, and
congressional committees. Through January 31, 2013, $1,770,380 has been
returned (including the principal amount of the contributions
that were part of the over $2.2 million received from the political
committee defendants discussed above).

Coins and Bullion Inventory: The Receiver has approximately $200,000 in remaining coins and bullion inventory relating to
the coins and bullion operations.

Overseas Cash: The Receiver has identified
approximately $310 million in cash, assets, and other investments in
foreign
accounts, including accounts in Canada, the United Kingdom,
and Switzerland. The Receiver cannot ascertain the exact current value
of these assets, which are subject to forfeiture proceedings,
because those funds are not currently subject to the Receiver's
control or direct monitoring. The Receiver is working with
the Department of Justice and the Joint Liquidators in Antigua in an
effort to reach agreement concerning the release and
distribution of these assets.

Other Inflows & Assets: The Receivership has
collected approximately $66.8 million through the liquidation of other
investment accounts held on behalf of Stanford, including
approximately $5.0 million held on behalf of Stanford Trust Company;
$1.0 million from the liquidation of Bank of Antigua
accounts; $46.7 million through the liquidation of Stanford accounts at
Pershing and of various investment funds held on Stanford's
behalf; $8.4 million through the recovery of additional cash
balances; and $5.7 million received via other inflows,
including, but not limited to, rental and interest income, cash flows
from other liquidated bank accounts, and restricted funds and
interest thereon. The Receiver estimates that he may recover up
to $2.5 million in additional assets held in U.S. banks and
brokerages.

II. CASH OUTFLOWS
From February 17, 2009 through January 31, 2013, the total
amount of Receivership cash outflows - comprising professional fees
and expenses, as well as other types of expenses - was
approximately $119.2 million.

Expenses Other than Professional Fees: The total
amount of all payments made by the Receiver for expenses other than
professional fees was approximately $53.3 million. This
figure comprises the following approximate amounts: $26.7 million in
personnel expenses and other employee expenses; $3.8 million
in insurance expenses; $3.5 million in taxes; $1.6 million in
general and administrative expenses; $2.4 million in
telecommunications expenses; $5.2 million in occupancy expenses; $2.5
million in settled claims; and $7.7 million in other
expenses. As previously explained in the Fourth Interim Report [see Doc.
1630 at 5-7], these expenses have decreased dramatically as
the Receivership has progressed.

Professional Fees and Expenses: As of January 31, 2013, the professional fees and expenses paid to the Receiver and his
professionals total approximately $63.3 million.

Approximately half of this amount was paid in the first year
of the Receivership ($30.9 million from the first quarter of 2009
through the first quarter of 2010) to wind down operations
and institute necessary legal actions to protect and benefit the Estate.

Furthermore, the Receivership Estate has paid (per Court
approval) the Examiner's expenses and legal fees totaling approximately
$1.9 million through January 31, 2013. Also per Court
direction, the Receivership Estate has paid a total of approximately
$600,000 in attorneys' fees, expert fees, and expenses
incurred by the Official Stanford Investors Committee (the "OSIC")
through January 31, 2013.